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Romanza - Andrea Bocelli
by eyedo6789
Former lawyer Dr. Andrea Bocelli is one the world's most popular classical and operatic singers and his easy listening style of singing and choice of many popular songs to sing has brought classical style singing to the masses.
Andrea is blind and it has been a long debated scientific discussion amongst musicologists as to ... whether blindness enables musical artists to better understand sound.
Romanza is his third album and reached number 6 in the UK album charts.
It is a greatest hits album released in 1997 and co-produced by no less than 5 producers. Although the album didn't reach No.1 in either the USA or the UK it has become one of the highest selling albums of all time selling something like 17 million copies worldwide to date.
The style of the album is an easy listening classical genre in my opinion.
Track 1, Con Te Partiro is perhaps the best known hit on the album. This is the solo version sung in Italian but he had a big hit single singing the English mixed with Italian version of it with Sarah Brightman and this is also on the album, track 15.
This version is called Time To Say Goodbye and is a song frequently played at people's funerals. It is an uplifting song but at the same time can be interpreted as a last good bye song.
There aren't any weak tracks on this album and the highlights are: Con Te Partiro, and Caruso with the really outstanding track being Miserere (Live) featuring John Miles. There is also a great version of this song by Zucherro which is worth getting hold of on a Zucchero album.
This is a great album. Full track listings:
1. "Con te partirò" (Lucio Quarantotto, Francesco Sartori) - 4:09
2. "Vivere" (Angelo Anastasio, Celso Valli, Gerardina Trovato) - 4:01 (featuring Gerardina Trovato)
3. "Per Amore" (Mariella Nava) - 4:41
4. "Il Mare Calmo Della Sera" (Gianpietro Felisatti, Malise[2], Malise, Gloria Nuti) - 4:40
5. "Caruso" (Lucio Dalla) - 5:16
6. "Macchine da guerra" (Angus Smith) - 4:08
7. "Le Tue Parole" (Joe Amoruso, Sergio Cirillo) - 3:57
8. "Vivo per lei" (Valerio Zelli, Art Mengo, Gatto Panceri) - 4:23 (featuring Giorgia)
9. "Romanza" (Mauro Malavasi) - 3:41
10. "La Luna Che Non C'è" (Dario Farina, Antonella Maggio) - 4:30
11. "Rapsodia" (Malise[2], Malise) - 5:28
12. "Voglio Restare Così" (Andrea Bocelli) - 3:51
13. "E Chiove" (Amoruso, Cirillo) - 4:21
14. "Funiculì, Funiculà" - 1:25 (live, featuring John Miles) - bonus track
15. "Time To Say Goodbye" (Sartori, Quarantotto, Frank Peterson) - 4:04 bonus track (featuring Sarah Brightman)
This review is also posted on www.ciao.co.uk
under my user name bella6789
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Project - Winter in June
by dangaroo
For something a little different, this CD - "Winter in June" by the band calling themselves "Project" is a quality album with extremely talented musicians. Describing themselves a dynamic ensemble combining classical, jazz and pop music , that's right on the money. What they don't go on to say is that the music they ... play is pretty unique and very original spanning everything including hip hop.
Beat box flute artist Greg Patillo is simply outstanding, he plays the flute excellently and to combine beat box into his playing so fluidly is surely a style that most wind instrument players can only dream of.
Track after track is like a catchy theme tune, this band deserve to be a lot more famous than they are. Whilst their may be a bit too much focus on classical music for the regular listener, I think what I like about this album is that all the tracks are relatively short and therefore its impossible to get bored of them. Straight to the point and then move on to the next track of brilliance - exactly how music should be in my eyes and not some 30 minute long winded rubbish, where you can turn the radio off on Friday.
I hadn't heard of this band until a while ago when I found out about "Project" via a Youtube video of Greg Patillo. If you check his playing out on youtube and like it, then this is definitely the next step.
1. Fables Of Faubus
2. Moon Over The Ruined Castle, The
3. Sweet Pea
4. Waltz
5. Interlude: 2nd Happiest Song In The World
6. Winter In June
7. My House
8. Interlude: Tribal
9. Semuta
10. Random Roads Suite: The Puzzle
11. Random Roads Suite: Adagio
12. Random Roads Suite: Devine
13. Random Roads Suite: Pelea De Gallo
14. Interlude: Slidy
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Susannah - Carlisle Floyd
by glitter_princess
Although it is relatively unknown and unperformed in the UK, Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah" is actually the second most commonly performed English opera in the US, losing out only to Porgy and Bess. Set in the mountains of Tennessee in the 1950's, it tells the story of Susannah Polk, a young girl brought up by her drunken brother ... after both parents died, and her clash with the strongly Christian community. When Olin Blitch, a travelling preacher comes to town, suspicions are high amongst the villagers as they try to root out sinners for confession, and Susannah finds herself suddenly wrongly accused of sinning by the entire community. Her refusal to confess for something she is innocent of brings about a shocking, dramatic and tragic series of events. The story is based very loosely on the Bible story of Susannah and the Elders, but like most American witchhunt stories, is thought to be a nod to McCarthyism.
There are only two available recordings of the full opera so anyone looking to purchase the full length version is not exactly spoilt for choice. The first recording features Phyllis Curtin, the original Susannah, but is a live recording and the sound quality is truly terrible. The second is the l'Opera National de Lyon recording, conducted by Kent Nagano, which has Cheryl Studer in the title role, renowned bass Sam Ramey as Olin Blitch, and Jerry Hadley as Susannah's brother Sam, and is a studio recording, so much better quality. Apparently this recording was originally supposed to feature Renee Fleming in the title role, but scheduling conflicts meant that this couldn't happen. Apparently there is an impossible to get hold of bootleg recording from when she sang the complete role, but for available and legally legitimate recordings we have to be content with her absolutely gorgeous recordings of Susannah's two arias on her "I want Magic" CD. So if you're looking for the complete opera then this is really the only recording to go for.
The music itself is wonderful - Floyd uses simple folk-like melodies alongside Protestant hymns and under Nagano's baton, the music ensures that the tight plot is propelled forward at an astounding pace - the opera seems to literally unfold before your ears in an unstoppable fashion. Unlike many twentieth century operas, the music is incredibly tuneful and really accessible to the listener.
As Susannah, Cheryl Studer perhaps lacks some of the girlishness that could be brought to the role, but her big voice is capable of bringing out the drama at every opportunity and means that as the drama builds towards the end of the opera she doesn't become overpowered by the orchestra as so many lighter voices would in this role. Her two arias are beautifully sung: 'Ain't it a Pretty Night' is such a wonderfully shimmering and beautiful piece of music, revealing Susannah's loyalty and love for the place where she's grown up, as well as her intense desire to know what lies beyond the mountains and to learn how others live. It builds to such a wonderful climax and is utterly exhilarating to listen to. 'The Trees on the Mountain' is a poignantly sad Appalachian style folk song which comes later in the opera, providing a welcome break from the drama around it. My disappointment with Studer is that there are numerous occasions on this recording where she sings flat which is a real disappointment for me.
Sam Ramey is fantastic as Olin Blitch - charismatic and vocally compelling with an intense richness and focus to his sound, a very 3-dimensional, human character, making you really wish you could see him on stage - and Jerry Hadley sounds wonderful as Sam. The minor characters and chorus are all well sung and nicely self-righteous, turning fantastically in the revivial scene from pious Christians to angry mob.
My only real criticism with this recording is that the accent seems overdone and at times interferes with the beauty of the music. Apparently, as Jerry Hadley sang the role more and more, his accent became more and more overdone to the point of being comical - this recording doesn't get anywhere close to that, but some of the Southern dipthongs do produce some rather ugly sounds at times.
All things considered, this is a wonderful recording and well worth investing in, although if you're a potential Susannah looking just for recordings of Susannah's arias, I'd probably recommend Renee Fleming's version over this one! As a CD recording the cost for this will vary from about £23-£40, but I bought my copy from the itunes music store for £14.99.
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